According to this CBS report, New York City educators are trying to develop a list of words which may or might be offensive or distracting to students taking standard examinations:
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/03/26/war-on-words-nyc-dept-of-education-wants-50-forbidden-words-removed-from-standardized-tests/To me, it sounds like brainwashing : funneling and channeling modes of thought to be appropriate to a nice ant-colony-like "groupthink" society.
What say you?
Here's a list of the 50 words and subjects recommended for deletion from standardized tests in New York City:
Abuse
Alcohol, tobacco, or drugs
Birthday celebrations (and birthdays)
Bodily functions
Cancer
Catastrophes/disasters
Celebrities
Children dealing with serious issues
Cigarettes
Computers in the home
Crime
Death and disease
Divorce
Evolution
Expensive gifts, vacations, and prizes
Gambling involving money
Hallowe'en
Homelessness
Homes with swimming pools
HuntingJunk food
In-depth discussions of sports
Loss of employment
Nuclear weapons
Occult topics
Parapsychology
Politics
Pornography
Poverty
Rap Music
Religion
Religious holidays and festivals
Rock-and-Roll music
Running away
Sex
Slavery
Terrorism
Television and video games (excessive use)
Traumatic material
Vermin (rats and roaches)
Violence
War and bloodshed
Weapons (guns, knives, etc.)Witchcraft, sorcery, etc.
I'm disgusted.
Oh, the nannyism!
Seems to me that the ability to filter out distractions should be part of any testing environment, no?
And I wonder how come they didn't add the word "test" to the list. That's pretty intimidating, no?
Terry, 230RN